Left: Mud-spattered Warragul football coach Ash Green urging his players on in last year’s grand final was perfect material for Stewart Chambers to come up with an eye-catching image that won the praise of award judges.THE Gazette has again been judged among the best community newspapers in the state.
At the recent Victorian Country Press Awards (VCPA), the Gazette was highly commended in the Telstra Country Wide Award for Journalism.
The prestigious award was hotly contested by newspapers from across Victoria.
The winner was the Horsham-based Wimmera Mail-Times, but the judges said the Pakenham-Berwick Gazette was the one newspaper “we’d all love to own”.
According to the judges, the Gazette was the only other publication that came close to winning the award for newspapers with a circulation between 3000 and 10,000.
“It has always had wonderful depth to its news content and coverage … Its presentation from start to finish was quite excellent and made easy and enjoyable reading,” the judges’ report said.
Also honoured at the VCPA were Gazette photographers Stewart Chambers and Meagan Trotter, who received high commendations in the Best News Photograph and Best Photographic Study categories.
The Gazette’s stable mates, the Pakenham News, Cranbourne News and Berwick News were also among the newspapers honoured at the awards, which were presented as part of the annual VCPA conference in Melbourne.
The Pakenham News, which is delivered free to all homes in the Pakenham area, was highly commended in the Goss Graphic Systems award for Overall Newspaper Excellence. According to the judges, the News featured “outstanding printing and production techniques with excellent locally-produced advertisements that were a tribute to the flair and design capabilities of the advertising and graphic arts departments”.
“Photographically excellent, the editorial section was highlighted by easy-to-scan layout and excellent headline writing,” the judges said.
The Cranbourne News and Berwick News were declared the joint winners of the Overall Newspaper Excellence award for a newspaper with a circulation category over 10,000.
Mr Chambers, senior photographer for the News, also won the Best Photographic Study award in the over 10,000 circulation category.
